Improvement in hammock-supports



' F, PAM@` l `Hammonk-Suppwts. i No. 144,219. Patentednowwwa.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

EnANeIS PARK, or DEERFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, AsSrGNoE rro HIMSELE, HENRY A. AXTELL, AND FREDERICK n. KEnvAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN HAMMOCK-SUPPORTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 144,219, dated November 4,1873; application filed September 5, 1873.

To all whom fit may concern.:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS PARE, of Deerfield, Franklin county, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a Hammock-Support, of which the following is a specification:

yThe object of my invention is to provide a portable and substantial supportvupon which to swing a hammock and it consists of two bent braces, hinged together at each end, and

provided with hooks, so that, by opening said braces a Short distance and setting them upon the ground or iioor with their hinged ends upward, an ordinary hammock may be swung upon the hooks.

In the drawings, Figure V1 is a side view of my invention as arranged for supporting a hammock. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the hinged braces opened and arranged for supporting a hammock. Fig. 3 s a top view of the hinge. Fig. 4 is an end view of the same, and Fig. 5 is a side view.

a a are two bent braces, which may be made, preferably, of any suitable tough and somewhat elastic wood, which braces are bent 4 in the form shown in Fig. 1, and are hinged together at the ends at i.

The hinge may be of any desirable form of strap-hinge,except that the stem or straight part of the hook h 'forms the pivot of the hinge; and the stem or straight part of the hook h may have a collar, n, attached thereto, near its bent part, which forms a shoulder, against which the straps i have a bearing, and the stem, extending through the straps, is riveted at the end. In other words, the hinge may be of any desirable and ordinary form, except that the pivot thereof is elongated and bent into the form of a hook, as shown in the mock is swinging, if desirable, and the braces c may be more or less straight for some distance between the pins, that the frame or braces may sit more iirmly upon the floor or ground. As thus arranged and set up, a hammock, B, may be hung upon the hooks h at each end, and will swing as in the ordinary manner. l

These braces c may be made of suitable size, if made of wood, to sustain the weight of the heaviest person, and if made of metal they may be made much smaller in diameter, and may be of any desired length.

The frame or braces c, may be carried to any desired locality and set up, either under a tree, on a porch or piazza of a house, and a hammock attached and used, when, perhaps, without the frame or braces c, there would be no convenient place to swing a hammock, and it could not, therefore, be used, as, if attached to the pillars or posts of a porch, it would be liable to rub off the paint and injure the woodwork; and when swung to the limbs of trees the bark is rubbed off and the trees injured; but as arranged with the braces, as herein described, uthe hammock may be used in any place, either indoors or out.

If made smaller-say, four feet longthe braces c may be used to swing a small hammock, to be used as a cradle, which may be either knit, crocheted, or made in the ordinary manner of small cord, or of cloth, but of a proper corresponding size to suit the braces ai; but for use as a cradle, it would be better to make each brace in two parts and attach a ferrule, b, to the end of one part, and insert the end of the other part into the ferrule; and when so attached together, a pin, e, having a hook, c, attached, fastened in one part, and a staple, e', in the other part, with the hook c hooked therein, will serve to secure the two parts of each brace together, so that the whole cradle may be drawn from 011e place to another in a room, by taking hold of the hinged en d of the braces, without pulling the braces apart at the joint or ferrulc. Then, if it should be desired to store the cradle away, or even to visit with an infant, the hammock B may be taken off the hooks h, the hook c unhooked from. its staple c', and the braces taken apart at the joint or l'errule b, and may be easily packed in a trunk or stored away, occupying very little room, and giving no inconvenience Whatever.

It is evident that, instead of a hook, h, a

` ring or other equivalent convenience may be sion of a hammock by means ot' suitable hooks or rings, substantially as described.

2. The braces a a., hinged together at their ends, forming a frame to Which to attach and suspend a hammock, and arranged With a joint at b, so that one part of each brace may be disconnected from the other part, substantially i as set forth.

FRANCIS PARK..

Witnesses T. A. GURTIs, C. E. BUGKLAND. 

